"War sent humanity back 300 years, distant future of justice & freedom" Read the full letter
Vernon Lee
Violet Paget (Vernon Lee) (1856 - 1935) was a professional writer and art historian. Lee was predominantly a literary figure, and during the First World War she became an outspoken critic of militarism, including as a member of the Union of Democratic Control. Only a handful of letters from Schreiner to Vernon Lee are extant, although she mentions her in other letters too. In a 1913 letter, Schreiner recalls their earlier meeting in Florence, which would have been in the later 1880s. In her interesting 1914-1918 letter, Schreiner commends Lee’s ‘splendid’ articles on the war and that “you take away the shame of women from among us”. Clearly she saw Lee’s very high profile and prolific anti-war writing as important regarding conscription and so on, but also as redeeming women more generally at a time when large parts of the women’s movement were pro-war and when many women were aggressively and militantly ‘patriotic’ (with Schreiner, with her German-sounding name and her pacifist activities, having been frequently on the receiving end of this).
For further information see:
Peter Gunn (1964) Vernon Lee: Violet Paget, 1856-1935 Oxford: Oxford University Press
Phyllis F. Mannocchi (2004) ‘Paget, Violet [Vernon Lee] (1856-1935)’ Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Oxford University Press http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/35361
Recipient Of
Colby Lee: There is an extensive collection of Vernon Lee material at Colby College, which is part of its Special Collections. There is ... Show/Hide Collection Letters
Vernon Lee Collection OS-VL/1:30 St Mary Abbott’s Terrace, Kensington, W., Telephone, 3350 Western., Dear Vernon Lee, Can I tell you how splendid I t...
- Library of Sommerville College, Oxford: The Vernon Lee (Violet Paget) collection is located in the Special Collections part of the Library of Somerville College, Oxf... Show/Hide Collection Letters
- Vernon Lee Collection, OS-13.06.13:De Aar, June 20th 1913, Dear Vernon Lee, I don’t know if you will have forgotten my name. I met you once in Florence ma...
Mentioned In- Colby Lee: There is an extensive collection of Vernon Lee material at Colby College, which is part of its Special Collections. There is ... Show/Hide Collection Letters
- Vernon Lee Collection OS-VL/1:30 St Mary Abbott’s Terrace, Kensington, W., Telephone, 3350 Western., Dear Vernon Lee, Can I tell you how splendid I t...
- Humanities Research Center, University of Texas at Austin: The HRC, Austin, is one of the world leading locations for archival papers pertaining to literary life and manuscripts across... Show/Hide Collection Letters
- HRC/OliveSchreinerUncatLetters/OS-TFisherUnwin/11:Dear Mr Unwin,, I have just heard that Vernon Lee has been very ill & is quite broken down in health. Do you know if this...
- HRC/OliveSchreinerUncatLetters/OS-TFisherUnwin/12:Hotel du Parc, Mentone, Dear Mr Unwin, Thankyou for your letter I won’t write to Vernon Lee unless she is hopelessly il...
- National English Literary Museum, Grahamstown: The National English Literary Museum is the leading location for collections pertaining to the imaginative and creative writi... Show/Hide Collection Letters
- Olive Schreiner: Havelock Ellis 2006.29/14:30 St Mary Abbott's Terrace, Kensington, Friday, Dear old Havelock, I went to Eastbourne yesterday. It was too sad., I came b...
- Library of Sommerville College, Oxford: The Vernon Lee (Violet Paget) collection is located in the Special Collections part of the Library of Somerville College, Oxf... Show/Hide Collection Letters
- Vernon Lee Collection, OS-13.06.13:De Aar, June 20th 1913, Dear Vernon Lee, I don’t know if you will have forgotten my name. I met you once in Florence ma...